About Us

Founded in 1988, Montreal’s Repercussion Theatre is best known for its annual Shakespeare-in-the-Park summer tour. As a professional theatre company and non-profit arts organization, our core values are artistic excellence, social relevance and accessibility

Our mission

Meet the team

Mission

Repercussion Theatre’s mission is to deliver professional, classically based, visually dynamic theatre that is accessible to all, regardless of income, culture, language, age or education.

“At Repercussion Theatre, we believe that classical texts are living conversations. We aim to create a space where new voices can meet timeless stories.”

– Catherine Savoie | General and Artistic Director

The Roots of Repercussion

What’s in a name? Back in 1988, Julie Miller, who directed our very first show, came up with the company’s name. She said that she wanted the company to make a difference, to have an impact on the community – to have repercussions… Over the past 35+ years, Repercussion has evolved greatly, but our commitment to making dynamic and meaningful theatre experiences as accessible as possible has remained a constant guiding light.

and Beyond…

On the Road

Repercussion Theatre has toured professional productions of Shakespeare’s plays to parks throughout Montreal and beyond for over 30 years. Our productions are performed in the open air. Our venue is the community park. Our theatre, including the stage, lights and sound equipment, can be set up and torn down the day of the show. Our audiences arrive at their local park with lawn chairs and blankets, ready to enjoy Shakespeare under the stars. They can make a donation, or enjoy the show free of charge. Over 8,000 people see our shows each summer.

Launching Careers

Shakespeare-in-the-Park has helped more than 450 actors, designers and technicians establish their careers in the theatre. That first professional experience is so vital to one’s development, and Repercussion’s commitment to mentorship allows emerging and established practitioners to learn from each other.

Love of Learning

Children and teens do more than just watch our productions. Through ongoing and ever-evolving activities, many of our younger patrons are given opportunities to engage directly with our productions. Theses opportunities for youth promote a lifelong love of language and the arts, and encourage creativity, compassion and cooperation.

Mentorship and Community-Building

Repercussion Theatre is committed to reflecting the artistic and cultural richness of Montreal, a community that prides itself on diversity. Our performances explore this dynamic city’s multi-lingual and multi-cultural identity – and exploration that is central to our ability to understand one another as citizens and neighbours. Between Shakespeare’s poetic investigation of what it means to be human and our contemporary stagings of his work, we invite our audiences to contemplate the role of the arts in their lives, to value difference, and to engage in community-building together.

Repercussion Theatre also offers professional and educational workshops, and partners with other companies in creating/curating events.

Gender Parity and Cultural Representation

After our all-female production of Julius Caesar in 2016, we committed to ensuring our Shakespeare-in-the-Park artistic team (directors, designers and actors) will be comprised of at least 50% women and gender-queer folks each summer. Cultural diversity has been an unspoken part of our DNA from the beginning, but now we are saying aloud that we are committed to presenting the cultural diversity of Montreal’s communities on our stage. This isn’t simply a question of “color-blind-casting”, this is about bringing a plurality of voices into the room to engage with and affect how we interpret and present Shakespeare’s plays.